Just a Nightmare
by ThisDudeHere
Summary: Subaru wakes up one day from a dream that felt far too real to have been a mere dream. Driven by it, he rushes to the girl he cares for the most in the world in the hope it was nothing more than just a nightmare.
1. Chapter 1

Deep exhaling and inhaling followed Subaru's sudden awakening from an overly realistic nightmare.

What the hell is this? It doesn't even feel like a nightmare, Subaru thought to himself, his hand covering his face that was covered with a thin layer of sweat as he looked into nothing in particular.

He looked at his alarm clock by the bed, coincidentally in a few more minutes, he would have gotten up for school anyway, taken a shower, fixed himself up a sandwich or two and then gone outside and see if Sayori was around.

"SAYORI!"

He practically flew out of bed, leaving behind all reason and logic as he wanted to make sure that what he saw in the nightmare was just that – a nightmare. He did not waste time getting ready much, only putting on his shoes and a sweater to cover up his pyjamas.

Although he wanted to be as fast as possible, Subaru made sure he did not slam the door on his frenzied way out, no need to wake up his parents. He ran out into the street and turned towards his neighbouring house, the home of his longtime best friend – now girlfriend since yesterday, Sayori. Subaru was not a superstitious person and did not really believe in omens or visions, but he would not take any chances with Sayori.

Not with her.

He reached their gate and, to his luck, it was open. Subaru had a passing thought on whether Sayori's parents were klutzes like she was. He reached the entrance door and exhaled a very satisfied sigh as the door was also unlocked.

Please let this luck persist.

The lights were not on anywhere and the morning sun was only barely shining through the windows, none the less he began running up the stairs without searching for the switch, he knew the stairs and where her room was by heart.

As he ascended the stairs, he remembered his nightmare very intrinsically – he saw this very same day in his dream, how he went to school and then came back to visit her, only to find out that Sayori had hung herself. Even more so, he remembered her bloody hands which could only mean that she had struggled and that she died of asphyxiation instead of having her neck snapped.

But why the hell did my mind come up with that twisted stuff in the dream, he thought. Perhaps his dream was trying to shame him for not being able to notice the depression that Sayori had been suffering from since it was she who revealed it to him.

His heart rate had been getting progressively higher upon nearing his destination, and that was beside the sprinting, but upon hearing off-putting sounds of struggle when approaching her door his heart almost sank. For a brief moment, Subaru found the doorknob to be weighing a ton due to his fear of turning it. Due to his fear of seeing what was on the other side.

He remembered how bad he felt in the dream for walking off to school without even checking up on her.

Idiot.

That was one of the primary reasons he was here now. Guilt over what his dream-self neglected to do.

The sound of a feminine gasp followed by "S-Subaru," made him come to his senses and roused him into action. He turned the doorknob and made a long step into her dark room, all in one swift albeit trembling motion.

A lump had already been forming in his throat, he only managed a "Sayo-" when his voice cracked, not letting him finish her name. He sucked back in his snot and searched for the light switch, painfully aware that the room was completely quiet now.

He found it and steeled himself. Wasting no time, he flipped the switch. What he saw was not what he expected.

Sayori was not hanging lifelessly. She was in her bed. Red-faced and completely naked, both of her arms covering her privates and chest.

Subaru could not help but stare. Not because he was perverted but because he had not yet registered the total difference in what he feared to see and what he got. But the mere fact that she was not dead let him calm down and helped in quickly dissipating the adrenaline that had been pumping through him.

"Um…I…" he was at a loss for words when it finally did dawn on him as to what he had walked into. Sayori all of a sudden became more self-conscious of herself as well, quickly covering herself with her bed sheet that previously was at the opposite end of the bed. Subaru could not help wonder if what he saw was a small puddle underneath her before she covered herself up completely along with it.

"Subaru…I…"

"Sayori, I'm sorry for…um…I'll explain later. We'll…we''ll walk to school together...right?"

Sayori had problems looking into his eyes, but she nodded meekly, her cheeks still red.

With that, Subaru awkwardly stepped out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

This is what happens when you give in to superstition.


	2. Chapter 2

Subaru was patiently waiting by his house on the street. He was waiting for Sayori to come out of her house so that they could walk to school together, just like he promised her…right after he walked in on her.

You done fucked up, he thought to himself. How exactly was he supposed to explain walking in on her in her own room early in the morning? That he saw a nightmare where she hung herself? Subaru did realize the folly of his own superstitious moment of weakness, but he would still be lying if he said that the nightmare didn't feel all too real. Especially what followed after Sayori's suicide.

It was all just some game? A game that Monika took control over? He really did not know why his subconscious acquired the idea that the president of the Literature Club had somehow attained reality warping transdimensional powers. He was beginning to seriously consider laying off video games for a while and actually focus more time on literature which, if he were completely honest, he was starting to get actually interested in.

His musing over the imaginary was cut short when pinkette approached him at an awkward and slow pace, the polar opposite of how she usually ran up to him. She stopped a few feet away from him, her eyes were periodically shifting from one place to another, only briefly landing on his own eyes, evidently struggling to find a way to break the ice. He figured she would not be the one to do it. For Sayori to apologize for some awkward transgression of her's was nothing new to him - he did not of hold it against her, it was part of her personality to sometimes make a good-hearted mess of things, but it tended to end well anyway, such as with her signing him up to the Literature Club without telling him - he ended up actually liking it there.

But the situation they found themselves in was of another calibre than her usual antics. That and this time it was actually entirely his fault for a change.

He turned to completely face her, catching her attention and seemingly giving her the courage to finally look into his eyes, though her cheeks still had some pink in them. He just wanted them to at least establish some form of mutual understanding of each other before heading off to school. He swallowed some excess saliva as he looked straight into her eyes, he saw the same kind of anxious expression he was sure he himself had.

What should I even say, Subaru asked himself. Things have been too hectic this past week. It went from them rekindling their deep friendship after not having spent much time together due to him having become more of a shut-in in recent years, to growing very close together, to her admitting that she had been suffering from depression all along, to both of them admitting their love for one another.

And then it led to him walking in on her while she was…busy, "all because of one vivid nightmare, damn it!"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Wha…oh, I said that out loud it?" he winced at his blunder.

"You saw a nightmare? I hope you're feeling all right, Subaru," she asked with genuine concern in her tone. That was one of the reasons he liked her; despite being in an inadequate position with him and also because of him, she still found the time to show concern.

"Um.. I'm fine, thank you," he said with an awkward laugh. "Believe me or not, that was the reason I came running to you. In my dream, I saw you…nevermind, it doesn't matter what I saw. You're fine, and that's all I care for," he smirked as he looked at her. Sayori was visibly glad for the concern he had shown for her but something did still hang in the air.

"None the less…I'm..um..sorry that I walked in like that. It was-"

"Apology accepted, Subaru," now she was the one awkwardly smirking with a hand at the back of her head. "How about we just, like, go to school and ignore that it happened and…well…discuss it later at home?"

Subaru could not help but hear a somewhat unfamiliar tone in that last bit that she said. Was she being suggestive or was he just hearing it that way, he wondered. It was a side of Sayori that he did not know. What he saw earlier before in her room was a side of her's that he did not know as well. But it was now a side he did want to get to know.

"All right, deal. We shouldn't let anything ruin the school festival today. But…just so you know, Sayori. My opinion of you didn't change at all if you were worried about that."

"Oh, aha…I'm… well, I'm glad, Subaru. So, you ready for the festival?" Her tone had shifted away from any previous awkwardness, finally alleviating the situation as they slowly began heading towards school, away from their home street.

"Well…I guess. I mean, I'm not so sure about reading in front of everyone but…well I just want to get it over with. I didn't bake the cupcakes together with Natsuki for nothing, after all."

"I guess that's good enough for now but Subaru, you should show more motivation!" She pouted and placed her hands on her hips. Subaru decided to humour her and gave her a mock military salute in acknowledgement. Then it dawned on him. Her last poem that she wrote! The one where she wanted someone to get out of her head! He realized that he had no recollection of how the real one looked like. What did I even do last Friday? He was sure that the dream followed everything to the letter up until the moment Sayori… but the poem had him question that notion.

Subaru was, of course, glad that everything turned out right in the end…relatively speaking…but he felt uneasy about the fact that he could only remember the poem that he saw in the dream and not the real one. If there was a real one, that is. As he recalled, that was not the poem she intended to read in front of everyone, but if she really did write something like that, he wondered what she had in mind for the festival.

"Sayori, are…are you ready to read your poem? To everyone?"

Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" She asked with real confusion in both her voice facial expression – it kind of made Subaru feel at ease that she did not immediately catch on to what he was implying. It meant that his dream was exaggerated after all.

"Oh wait you're referring to my.." her confused expression gave way to a more sombre one.

Shit.

"Subaru, thank you for the concern, but it's not really that serious. Thanks to you I am already getting better! And I wrote a poem for the festival more determined than ever. All thanks to you," she said with a heartwarming smile that eased any concern Subaru may have had. She went closer to him, completely bridging the distance between them, "I mean, I did say that your confession made me the happiest I've ever been! It made the rain clouds go away for good," she said as she hugged him, making him stop his movement. "For a long time it felt like a bunch of thorns but then you unplucked them," she hugged him even tighter at the heartfelt confession.

"Sayori… I'm glad that –"

Wait a minute.

He clearly remembered her saying the opposite of what she just said. That she felt even worse after his confession and that it was all just some sort of punishment for her. Now he was really confused – to what extent did that vivid dream fuck up his mind? Was it really just a nightmare? He decided that questioning everything now would be too much for both him and her. "I'm glad that you are now better, I really am. But we should head on, all right? Wouldn't want to miss out on the festival."

"Yeah, you're right, Subaru," she said as she detached herself from him and, yet again, changed the atmosphere with a bright smile. "By the way, where are your cupcakes?"

"What cupk-oh shit! Right!" He almost facepalmed himself as he realized that he forgot them at home. "Um…I guess you should head on, I have to pack them up," I said hurriedly as I rushed back to my house

"Nah, I'll help you, not like there are any lessons today anyway."

Seeing no fault with her reasoning, Subaru was thankful for her helpfulness. But even more so, he was thankful for how in the end she did not judge him for his transgression.

 **Author's note. First, I apologize for editing this in after posting the chapter.**

 **Anywho, I thank the people who read, reviewed, favourited and followed this first venture of mine into fanfiction. I've always wanted to write one but I could never figure what about until DDLC came along and inspired me to finally give it a shot. That and I'm writing an actual book of my own and I figured that I should try and do something smaller first so that I could get used to story writing. So, please, give me any and all criticism you cam, brutally harsh especially.**

 **I do have a general plan for this, there are events that I intend to lead the story to but I largely tend to come up with ideas as I write - I only decided to change the circumstances with Sayori right before I wrote the actual sentence. As for the main protagonist's name - I'm sorry but it's not Subaru from Re: Zero, but the name will have a minor significance later on.**


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